Media Influence in Conflict Reporting
Event Driven News
News stories created due to dramatic events. Told by different perspective than official stand. Sometimes the media can’t rely on its real sources (journalists let other voices be heard)
Rally Around the Flag
Phenomenon when public’s and media’s reactions include patriotic emotions and tend to support the government’s action during the first stages of a conflict. Government’s ability to mobilize the media in times of conflict affects the way the public perceives the events.
Spiral of Cynicism
Media deals with the negative side of reality and politics providing negative stories. Society looks at politics in a cynical way, always expecting it to be negative. We always hear bad news so it makes us less trusting and more cynical
Media Frames
Media can give priority to certain elements of reality. The frame is to select some aspects over others to make them more noticeable in a communicating text. Political actors make use of the frame when trying to influence the public
Imagefare
Misuse of images from military order to achieve political objectiveness. Actors involved in conflict attempt to promote their preferred message through media to gain public support and achieve their political goal. Today’s conflict is more of a battle of ideas than a battle of military. Used in asymmetric conflicts, specifically when there’s high foreign news coverage, as one image can change the whole world’s view
Theater of Terror
Emphasized use of drama in an almost theatrical production. Aim isn’t the immediate casualties but more exposure on the world stage of mass media. Terrorists don’t care who they’re hurting, they just want their message to be heard
Index Theory
Bennet’s index theory refers to the range of opinion we hear fit the opinion of the elite. The power is in the hands of the politicians because media needs new news and the best place to receive them is from political elites. They frame it the way they want
Victim Mode of Reporting
Applied when major events happen and journalists raise the level of emotionalism by: 1. Raising levels of prominence of the story 2. High level of drama 3. Personalizing the victim
Terrorists Use of the Web
Terrorists make use of the internet to gain global communication systems to empower them, to make the public aware of their position, to transmit their ideology. Not supervised, filter, or centered.
Defensive Mode of Reporting
When journalists employ an alternative way of covering events that the leadership in question is forced to rationalize its own because of civilian casualties on the other side. Journalists lower emotions by: 1. Giving low prominence of news stories (not often). 2. Analytical perspective and no dramatization. 3. Depersonalization of the victims (transforms the victims into statistics and no more)
Readings:
– TV Disaster Marathons. Liebes (1998): After a series of terrorist bombings, Israeli TV was cancelled for 72 hours to have live broadcasts of the news ‘Disaster Marathons’. Had heavy criticism. Were unplanned, instant. Gave more power to TV journalists but under almost impossible conditions (no time to investigate). Story progressed by giving blame, punishing villains and making sure no villain was hiding. During Media events the government takes over the media and during disaster the oppositional forces take over.
– Wolsfeld: Routines for covering violent conflict that leads to the construction of ethnocentric news. There are two sets: One permanent and ensures an ethnocentric control over the flow of information. The second set varies as journalists create narratives for specific types of events. Victim mode (own citizens suffered tragedies) Defensive mode (caused similar casualties on the enemy). Two chosen events for the study: Palestinian suicide bombing killing 19 Israelis, killing of the Hamas leader killing 16 Palestinians. Goal is to see journalistic tendencies when covering conflicts with rival countries. Tendency to see the other world populations through the perspective of one’s ethnic group and even reject others that are culturally different. Mostly used in wars from political leaders
– Norris (2003): Main issue from 9/11 was mass media coverage of terrorism. Symbolized a cultural shift in news frame. Danger of terrorism lowered but fear increased. Media selects certain texts, images… to promote a certain interpretation of events. Social culture affects > The government’s frame/terrorist event/group frame > which affects the news frame > which affects public opinion > which affects political agenda >>> which affects the social culture. News framing is expected to be shaped by: 1. Basic facts. 2. Way events are interpreted by official sources. 3. Comm releases, press statements, interviews
Framing model: the way events are framed will shape public opinion. Conventional news frame: one-sided interpretation. Terrorism frame: helps bring the facts from events, identify victims and assign blame.
– Liebes (2007): Media coverage of terror has been in and out of the coverage of war because in recent wars, the wars have been followed by episodes of terror. Most media researchers use ‘back door’ by the use of violence and the politicians and the elite use the ‘front door’. More violence they create, more chance of coverage. Breaking news began when terrorist orgs tightened, had more tech and coverage. Coverage creates empathy with the terrorist. 1. Sense of being there, authenticity. 2. Timing and rhythm of covering war is dictated by the gov and the military but stories of getting acquainted with the persona of terrorists are initiated by journalists who are in part in charge of the timing and pace 3. Pursuing terrorists provides journalists with an opportunity to prove that they’re not always patriotic.
– Roger N (2013): On 9/11 a new kind of war emerged, image Warfare. Countries can’t control the spread of images in war, unpredictable. Shift from centralized mass media to deterritorialized media model (internet and tech eliminate geographical boundaries). Suicide terrorism: tactic used by Al Qaeda to get a leg up on conventional militaries but there’s also symbolism. Images and videos allow terrorist to keep control of their attacks. Executions play an important role with hijacking and hostage taking (create powerful images). Abuse of war on terror, not meant to be published were weaponized in the war of terror. (Abu Ghraib prison abuse)
– Ayalon (2016): 21st century conflicts are different from past conflicts because: level of asymmetry between actors, level of foreign news coverage the conflict receives. Imagefare: use of images as guiding principle or substitute for traditional military means to achieve political objectives. A stronger actor using the wrong military strategy can prevent them from achieving victory in conflict. State actors can achieve victory on battlefield but not political goals. Ex: Israel had military victory when stopped 6 ships from reaching Gaza, but suffered international criticism and caused them to ease the blockage on Gaza. Political actors cannot win by military means alone. Four fronts in the new character of conflicts: military, diplomatic, media and legal. Battlespace: where conflict occurs, where warfare is important but not the final means to achieving political goals. Asymmetry factors are as follows: international status of actors (state or non-state), material symmetry (state actors- land, nonstate- no land), conflict perception (what is/isn’t allowed in conflict, determined by state actors). Hard Symmetry: military power, usually the state actor has more military resources. Soft symmetry: has to do with values, culture and how dependent the actor is on public opinion. Types of conflict: A. symmetry between actors (state-state) and limited foreign coverage (WW1/2). B. asymmetry and limited coverage (operation anaconda in afg). C. symmetry and los of coverage (phase 1 of iraq war). D. high symmetry and lots of coverage (first intifada in israel).
Information space represents type D. Image war is each side show their own ideas as justified. Since states have less control over the flow of info in a conflict, policy makers must be guided by imagefare and image concerns when deciding which military actions to take. Constraints: 1. Exterior constraints such as the law of wars and the possible international sanctions through their violations. 2. Liberal-democratic states suffer from domestic political constraints, public opinion and civil disobedience, that limit level of violence they can use to achieve victory. 3. The incorrect employment of military strategies by the stronger actor. States, as opposed to NGO’s & terrorists, do not use imagefare at their advantage which is a big mistake if they want to achieve their political objectives.
– Yarchi (2014): Study focuses on the competition over international agenda building and frame building as a central strategic activity of the public diplomacy process. Two events: Israel’s disengagement from Gaza and the general elections in the Palestinian authority. Analyzes the competition between two rival national actors for access and to influence the international media as part of their efforts to sway international policy and gaining political control. The actors success depends on their political power, relevancy, cultural and political resonance with journalists. Country’s cultural values, prev experience dealing with conflict and role in the int. area will have influence over the frames promoted by political actors. Aspects that affect success: political context factors, nature of the event of the conflict and message context. Framing functions: promoting the definition of the problem, identifying the cause, moral judgement, endorsing a particular solution. Israel is more successful in US. Influencing a public opinion in a foreign country is very complicated and relies on many factors. Cultural and political similarities with the foreign country give and advantage.
– Sheafer Gabay (2009): Political actors who are involved in conflict will often use public diplomacy to promote their side of the story. Looks at the frames that various actors present to the world and tries to explain the difference, and explore the social and political context. If a country’s security is threatened by terror, that country will usually promote foreign policy that asks for support from other countries. When a country fights against terror, its actions are seen as part of national security. Political actors use frame to promote their message through public diplomacy, frame is an ‘interpretative package’. Five value dimensions that predict how people will feel: 1. Power distance: degree of inequality that is considered to be normal 2. Uncertainty/ avoidance: level to which members of society prefer structure over unstructured situations 3. Individualism: degree which members prefer to act as individuals rather than part of a group 4. Masculinity/fem: degree to which masculine values go over feminine 5. Long term orientation: society’s search for virtue and concern with establishing and absolute truth. Conservatism vs autonomy: relations between individuals and the group. Hierarchy vs egalitarianism: behavior relating to the social fabric of society. Mastery vs harmony: relation between human kind and natural and social world. Small states are exposed to more criticism from other countries and tends to be more defensive. A country’s history in dealing with conflicts will also influence its framing.
– Cortell (2003): This article explores the sources of the Bush administration’s decision to embed reporters in military units to cover real-time frontline combat to the 2003 invasion in Iraq. War of Iraq: Bush declared a decision of an ’embedded reporter program’. Media was placed in individual military units. Represents a significant change in the US military media relations. Adv: for the military, it provided them a close up view of combat operations that met all three of its motivations possible such as: effective counterbalance to enemy misinformation, permitted news consumers to observe (as for example: the effectiveness of Americans fighting forces), and thus providing a positive spin to news coverage. Disadv: Journalists lose perspective and thus sacrifice the standard of reporter objectivity.
– Baum and Porter (2008): Media is engaged in a constant process of framing the news in response to the requirements of leaders and the public. In start of conflict, leaders have high level of info, public: low level. Main actors: 1. Public: the longer a conflict lasts, the greater the opportunity for the public to accumulate more info. Low influence when low info. 2. Leaders: info advantage from early on, incentive to manipulate public opinion. 3. Media: plays the crucial role of collecting, framing and distributing info (leaders can control media). Media is not just a conveyer belt of leaders info but rather independent strategic actor. Distribution of info among the public, leaders and the media determines influence of foreign policy.